Preview: Wycombe Wanderers vs. Sheffield Wednesday - prediction, team news, lineups

The bottom two sides will fight it out on Saturday as Sheffield Wednesday take on Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park Stadium in what will be their first encounter between the Chairboys and Owls for eight years.

The Owls come into this one off the back of a 3-0 defeat away to Rotherham United, while Wycombe picked up a point at home to Watford.

Match preview

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Wanderers will come into this fixture desperate for a win, having only secured one point all season, and will see this as a prime opportunity to keep their noses in front of Wednesday.

Gareth Ainsworth has remained positive despite his side's poor form, and will hope that the point gained in the week can be used as a springboard to launch their season.

Wycombe haven't tasted victory in their four previous encounters with the Owls – losing 2-1 and drawing 1-1 in their 2003-04 meetings - but will hope to end that sequence by collecting their first ever Championship win following a succession of positive performances.

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Garry Monk continues to face heightened pressure for the Wednesday fans as the temptation to panic starts to become apparent, given the team's dip in form.

Monk will hope Jordan Rhodes can inspire a win after he scored a hat-trick for Norwich here in 2018, five goals for Huddersfield in a 6-0 rout at Adams Park in 2012, one for Huddersfield two years earlier and even one for Brentford in 2009.

Since Monk challenged his side to wipe out the points deficit that they face, results have gone from bad to worse and though there is a long season ahead, Monk will be targeting this game as the one that can restart their season.

Following this fixture, the Owls face two tough home fixtures as they welcome Bournemouth and then Millwall.

Wycombe Wanderers Championship form: LLLLLD

Sheffield Wednesday Championship form: LDWLLL

Team News

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Wednesday lost centre-backs Aden Flint and Tom Lees to an injury and red card respectively in midweek, meaning neither will feature at Adams Park, leaving them with one fit recognised central defender.

Liam Palmer and Julian Borner could make an unlikely centre-half pairing with the possibility of Monk reverting to a back four, given his depleted backline.

With no new injuries, Ainsworth's men are growing in strength with Uche Ikpeazu recently returning to the side and Dominic Gape, Jason McCarthy and Ryan Tafazolli all taking part in training.

With those developments in mind, Ainsworth will most likely stick with the same lineup that started last time out.

Wycombe Wanderers possible starting lineup: Allsopp; Grimmer, Knight, Stewart, Jacobsen; Onyedinma, Thompson, Adeniran, Mehmeti; Kashket, Wheeler

Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup: Dawson; Odubajo, Palmer, Borner, Harris: Pelupessy, Bannan, Dele-Bashiru, Reach; Paterson, Rhodes

We say: Wycombe Wanderers 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday

The winner of this matchup will likely be the team who are brave enough to chase the game and be positive from the outset. With that said, both teams are low on confidence, and with a lack of quality on show, we see this one ending in a draw - a result that will do neither team much good.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting an away win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Away Win:data